The Terrible Gift (Empath Found Book 1)

by Colette Rhodes

  One of the cabin windows was larger than the others, easily big enough to climb out of and I noticed a small wooden platform underneath the window to stand on. I clambered out to look around. The platform was only big enough for me to take a step in either direction but looking up at the strings and pegs mounted overhead of me, it was clear this area was for drying clothes. I guess that washbasin was multipurpose.

  Before Briallen could return, I had a quick, tepid shower. Apparently, treehouses didn’t get boiling hot water, but I wasn’t complaining — at least there was indoor plumbing, and I’d never had a bathroom to myself before. I dug around in the wardrobe for something resembling pajamas and found a simple linen singlet and matching shorts in a khaki color and threw a cream-colored woolen cardigan over the top.

  Fortunately, there were new-looking undergarments in a basket at the bottom of the wardrobe. Unfortunately, they were way thinner and way less supportive than I was accustomed to. The underwear seemed to sort of lace-up and tie at the sides, and the bra was more like a bikini top with strings to tie it into place. I had a decent-sized bust and was pretty sure I’d be dreaming about underwire bras when I fell asleep tonight.

  Briallen appeared at the door and solidified her spot as my favorite fae by bringing an enormous bowl of salad, filled with nuts and vegetables, and a side of fruit.

  “No meat?” I joked.

  She looked at me in horror. “Fae don’t eat meat!”

  Oh good, already putting my foot in it, and I've only been here a couple of hours.

  “Ah, I guess I’ll need to rethink my diet.” I laughed, playing off my faux pas. It wasn’t bad as far as salads go. Maybe giving up meat wouldn’t be that much of a hardship. Then again, grilled chicken would take this salad from ‘good’ to ‘spectacular’...

  Briallen was perched on the armchair, and I didn’t need my special emotion reading abilities, sorry — empath “gift” — to tell she was nervous about something.

  “Spit it out Briallen, I promise I won’t bite,” I smiled, trying to put her at ease. I wanted to make sure Briallen felt comfortable around me so she’d hang out with me again. I was getting a light buzz from all the positive emotions she was putting out.

  “Ah, did Gwyneira talk to you at all about the Pull of Cúpláil or mating circles?”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her. “She sort of mentioned something about Bryn and I being, er, compatible? I guess she was more focused on the basics, you know. ‘What is a fae,’ ‘how magic works’ that kind of thing.”

  All of these words felt so foreign on my tongue. The past 24 hours had been a serious trip.

  “Right,” Briallen laughed nervously. “Usually, I wouldn’t bring it up, but I don’t want you to go into tomorrow unprepared, especially as you and Bryn are already feeling the pull. If you’re compatible with a fae as strong as Bryn, there’s a good chance you’ll feel the pull with some of the other unmated male fae at the Academy. Those who aren't mated because they haven’t encountered a female fae as strong as you before.”

  I stared at her a little too long as I tried to process what she was saying. I would feel a pull? To powerful unmated males?

  “Pull of Cúpláil means the pull of mating. It’s felt by two people whose magic is strong enough to support one another. It doesn’t mean you have to claim that person as your mate; we always have free will. Chances are you will meet many people with whom you feel some kind of pull, but the stronger the feeling, the better the match for both your magic and your soul. A strong pull indicates compatible magic and kindred souls.”

  I blinked, her sincerity giving me that strange, gong-striking feeling in my chest. “So that weird tugging feeling in my chest that I had around Bryn was the… mating pull?”

  Briallen’s eyes lit up, and she grinned. Her excitement made my skin buzz all over my body. “Yes! I mean, I assumed that’s why he was acting so strange, but you’ve just confirmed it.”

  I felt my cheeks heating up. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that?

  “Ah, perhaps don’t bring it up around him or anyone for that matter. You said we have a choice to, um, pursue things, right? I highly doubt Bryn and I will be pursuing anything.”

  “We’ll see,'' she winked like she knew something I didn’t. “You’re right about the choice to pursue, though. To cement a mating bond, you have to actually claim each other. It’s a private ceremony of sorts between the two in question and then consummated.”

  She didn’t look embarrassed in the least explaining this to me while I felt like burying my head in a pillow like a kid getting the birds and the bees talk.

  “If you feel the mating pull and decide to get to know them better, they become your ‘suitor.’ Once you claim each other, they’re your ‘mate.’ Fae mate for life.”

  “Well, I am confident I don’t want to spend my life with Bryn. We’d drive each other insane.”

  “You never know. You may need one of your mates to challenge you while the others balance him out.”

  “One of my mates? The others?” I choked out. I was definitely missing something here.

  Briallen looked a little sheepish. “Sorry, humans usually only take one mate at a time, right? Fae females have a mating circle. I have one mate and enough magic for one more; that’s pretty standard in Avalon. You feel powerful, and you’ve already felt a mating pull to one of the strongest male fae in the Academy, so I assume you’ll have three. Lucky girl.” There was that wink again. Lordy, this girl was too much.

  “Why would I want three, er, mates?” stumbling slightly over the odd word. “I didn’t even want one boyfriend in what’s it called? Albion? I definitely don’t need three at once.”

  “A human suitor wouldn’t have been suited to you since he had no magic. You wouldn’t feel any kind of pull to be with them. Fae can’t sustain a relationship without the mating pull. Some try or have casual flings, fae have more relaxed attitudes towards our bodies and sexuality than humans as I understand it. But long-term relationships do not survive without a strong mating pull to build from.”

  I mulled this over in my mind as Briallen told me about how she’d met her mate, Leigh, during their first week at the Academy and had claimed each other six weeks later.

  “Six weeks?” I spluttered, “Isn’t that kind of quick considering the whole mating-for-life thing?”

  Briallen laughed and I let out a small sigh of relief that I hadn’t offended her. It was stressful not knowing the parameters of acceptable behavior in this whole different world I’d found myself in.

  “Not for fae. When we feel a strong pull, generally we’re all in straight away. Your soul knows, your magic knows, why wait? Besides, the closer you get to them, the more the mating pull encourages you to claim them. It’s quite hard to hold off for more than a couple of months if you spend a lot of time together.”

  “Do you still feel the mating pull then? Since you’ve already got a mate? You said your magic could support two? Wouldn’t Leigh be jealous?”

  She smiled, “I do still feel the mating pull from time-to-time but much weaker than the pull I felt to Leigh. Knowing how strong that connection was, I couldn’t settle for anything weaker.

  As for Leigh, he would be there every step of the way if I did find someone I wanted to pursue as a second mate. He would get to know him as well. Hopefully, they would be fast friends. I wouldn’t pursue anything that made Leigh unhappy, of course, but if the new male was highly compatible with me, he and Leigh would probably have a lot in common. My fathers certainly do. My mother met them three years apart, but you’d never know one had been around longer than the other.”

  “I have so many questions from what you just said but I think I should probably sleep on it and give my brain time to try to absorb all of this.”

  Briallen laughed. “Of course, sorry Fi, I really didn’t mean to overwhelm you. There are quite a few strong male fae in the senior year and amongst the teaching assistants, if you don’t feel a pull to at least one of t
hem, I will clean your cabin for a week; that is how confident I am.

  "Sleep well, we’ll come to collect you tomorrow morning at 8, and we can go to breakfast together.”

  I showed Briallen out before clambering up the ladder to the bed. It was a cold evening and I had no idea how to start a fire so I curled up in bed instead, pulling the soft linen sheets and heavy patchwork quilt up around me. There was a fur coverlet strewn across the bottom of the bed but I felt weird using it. God knows what kind of fur it was. I'd make do with the nice, safe quilt.

  The bed itself was a mattress on the floor of the platform. It was encased in a large rectangular wooden frame but there was no headboard. I burrowed into the impossibly soft mattress, pushing my fingers deep into the fabric. I think it was genuinely made of feathers? Whatever it was, I had never slept on something so comfortable in all my life.

  There was a heavy, inky blue curtain that could be pulled along the edge of the platform for privacy and above the bed was an enormous circular skylight that gave me a perfect view of the stars. Even without a roommate, I'd be pulling the curtain across. I loved the idea of cocooning myself in my own little world each night, just me and the endless night sky.

  Laying in bed, staring up at the sky, I reflected on insane few hours I’d just had. As much as I tried to distract myself, my thoughts kept drifting back to my conversation with Briallen.

  “I sincerely hope she’s wrong,” I muttered. I had a whole new world to adjust, air magic to learn, plus the super-rare-highly-coveted-ability I had to hide. I had more than enough on my plate without adding a man or three to the mix.

  Fi

  I woke up to the gentle, whimsical chiming of bells. Early morning sunlight streamed in through the skylight above my head and I stirred slowly, grateful for the warmth on my face and lack of blaring alarm. I felt more rested than I had ever remembered feeling. Maybe it was the fresh air? Something in Avalon seemed to agree with me, and I found myself feeling more curious than apprehensive about my first day of classes.

  Pulling back the privacy curtain, I could spot the clock on the wall downstairs. Perfect, half an hour until Briallen was due to arrive. I headed into the bathroom to wash my face and tame my curls as best I could, I pulled them into a low ponytail, secured with a strip of linen, and hoped for the best given there was no mirror in the cabin. Oh well, it certainly made getting ready in the morning a lot faster.

  Flicking through the array of dresses and tunics in the antique wardrobe, I noticed fae fashion wasn’t as medieval as I assumed it would be. Still, it was definitely differed from my human wardrobe. Almost everything was made of linen, though there were some heavy woolen items in there that would suffice for colder weather. I guess the fae nature-based lifestyle extended to their fabrics?

  I chose an indigo-colored loose dress with a boat neck top and short, batwing sleeves. It fell to just under my knees, and there was a thin belt that I pulled tight at the waist. Just because everything was baggy doesn’t mean I had to look like I was wearing a potato sack after all. I pulled a long cream woolen cardigan over the top. It wasn't nearly as cold as it had been in London but the air was fresh and brisk.

  I had a few minutes to spare before Briallen was due to arrive so I pulled out my phone with the intent of killing time. I wasn’t entirely shocked that it seemed to have died at some point on the way to Avalon. Digging around in my backpack, I found my clothes already looked like they were falling apart, just as Bryn had warned me they would. Was it magic? I gave a final, longing look at my favorite pair of jeans before conceding that I’d be limited to wearing linen dresses like all the other females here. I suppose I should be grateful, with my sudden growth spurt, my human clothes wouldn’t fit me anyway.

  Hearing a knock on the door, I opened it to find Briallen and a tall man who I assumed was Leigh. All I could really tell about him was he had light brown hair; he stood behind Briallen with his entire face buried into her neck, nuzzling her from behind. She had mentioned last night that fae were pretty chill about sex. Maybe PDA was more of an accepted thing here?

  “Good morning!” Briallen chirped, her happiness rolling off her and over my skin like a soothing wave. “I hope you slept well?”

  “Very well, thank you. Is this Leigh?”

  “Indeed,” she giggled. “Leigh Edan, this is the new friend I was telling you about, Fi.”

  “Pleasure to meet ya, Fi,” he tossed me a cheeky grin and a wink resuming his attentions to Briallen’s neck. His accent was different from Briallen’s; it had an almost Irish lilt to it. How big was Avalon? These were the kinds of questions I should be asking instead of learning the ins and outs of mating circles.

  “Edan?” I asked, grabbing the canvas satchel next to the door that held a slate board, a couple of pencils and an empty glass bottle with a lid that I assumed was for water. Leigh and Briallen carried similar bags, though theirs looked a lot heavier. Hopefully, I’d get my textbooks in class. The slate board was throwing me for a loop.

  “Are you wondering if we’re related?” Briallen giggled as I locked the door and we began walking down the stairs to the grass below. “Don’t worry, Fi. It’s nothing like that! Mated males take the female’s name. It would be incredibly confusing otherwise.”

  “Oh, right, I guess that makes sense. So do you two have affinities as well? I meant to ask you last night, Briallen, but you distracted me.” I gave her a pointed look and she grinned in response.

  “I have an earth affinity, Leigh has an air affinity. I assume you have at least an affinity since you felt a strong pull to Bryn,” Briallen stated carefully.

  “Air as well, I think. I have to go to the arena this morning to test it and find out for sure,” I replied, excited that I had met someone who also had an air affinity. Maybe Leigh could give me pointers.

  “We’re both fourth years so we won’t be in any of your classes, but if you have any questions we’d be happy to help,” Briallen said kindly, reading my mind.

  “Briallen reckons you’ve got some kind of secret gifted ability that you’re not telling anyone about. There’s naught I love more than a challenge Fi, what do you say? Can I wager you for it? A game of cards? Chess? If I win, you tell me your secret.” Leigh said with a cheeky smile, and I felt only genuine enthusiasm and burning curiosity coming from him. As if it was totally normal to try to extract secrets from someone you literally just met. Maybe it was a fae thing?

  “Ah, no. I mean, I’ll play a game of cards with you, but if I win, you don’t get to ask about my magic again and if you win… well, I still won’t tell you about my magic. Regardless, we’ll play a game of cards and get to know one another.” I gave him a small smile to soften my words, but I absolutely was not telling this fae anything. Leigh only grinned in response, clearly interpreting my words as a challenge.

  “Briallen mentioned you were on guard duty last night? What’s that about?” I asked, not-so-subtly changing the subject.

  “Eh, nothing exciting. All of the male students are rostered on guard duty twice a week to protect the campus. Nothing ever happens, it’s very anticlimactic,” he said with a shrug.

  “No need to sound so disappointed, Leigh. Are you hoping for a near-death experience? A maiming perhaps?” I teased and Leigh laughed.

  “Briallen, my love, I bet you the choice of the next three date nights that young Fi here will be a strong match for our Marlen!” Leigh’s excitement was rolling off him in waves, and I idly noticed that it was the second bet Leigh had made in just the past couple of minutes. Was it a Leigh thing or a fae thing? I was partial to a wager myself.

  “I’m not taking that bet,” Briallen laughed. “There’s no question they’ll have a strong pull.”

  “I’m really not looking for any, um, mates or suitors or whatever right now, Leigh.”

  “Mmm,” Leigh responded noncommittally. “We’re just going to make one quick stop before we head to the commons, then I promise we’ll get breakfast. Come along Fi, won�
�t be long.” I noticed the subtle deflection and marveled at how different it was talking to fae who couldn’t lie after a lifetime of talking to humans who could.

  Leigh ducked up the stairs to a treehouse while Briallen and I waited on the grass below, and she pointed out various buildings where classes took place. A few minutes later, Leigh reappeared with a beautiful, tall red-headed man at his side, and I felt a forceful yank in my chest. His fresh, woodsy pine scent surrounded and consumed me.

  “Fi — this is my best friend, Marlen Ferris. Marlen, meet Ffion Smith. She’s new here; just arrived from Albion yesterday.” Leigh’s giddy excitement was so intense that it broke through the haze of lust and wonder I was in, and I shook my head a little to clear it. Focus, Fi.

  Marlen was so handsome though, it was hard not to stare at him. His hair was a vibrant, dark red, and he had a decent 5 o’clock shadow around his cut jawline. Like all fae, his eyes were so vibrant they almost glowed. Marlen’s were a bright emerald and I wanted to stare into them for hours. His pale skin was smooth and flawless.

  Did no one have blemishes here? There weren’t any mirrors for me to check, but when I washed my face this morning, I noticed that my skin felt fantastic.

  “Hello, Marlen, nice to meet you,” I tried to play it cool even though I felt anything but. His gaze was lasered in on me and filled with heat; it really wasn’t helping.

  “Lovely to meet you,” he took my hand and brushed his lips gently over my knuckles. Is this what swooning felt like? I’m pretty sure I was swooning.

  “Come,” he said, offering me his arm to take. “Let’s get some breakfast, and you can tell me everything there is to know about you.”